God Who Knows Me Knowing God Personally Series

God Who Knows Me Knowing God Personally Series, Part 1 Psalm 139: 1 -6

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 139: KNOWING GOD PERSONALLY • What is “faith” according to Scripture? Ø Faith is more than believing God’s existence. Ø Faith is more than knowing about God. Ø Faith is more than finding God. Ø Faith is to grow in ongoing personal relationship with God —getting to know God personally. Why? ü God is a Person—HE thinks, wills, feels, loves, suffers, and communicates. Thus, God is incomprehensible yet knowable and transcendent yet relatable. ü We are created in God’s image—to enjoy the fellowship with God and glorify God through our fellowship. ü Jesus taught his followers to relate to God as “ABBA”—our heavenly Father (Matt 6: 9).

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 139: KNOWING GOD PERSONALLY • What is Psalm 139 about? Ø It is NOT David’s list of God’s attributes [omniscience, omnipresence, holiness of God, etc. ]. Ø It is David’s confession on his personal experiential knowledge of God. Ø “Knowing God Personally” Series is our study of Psalm 139 —it’s the four-part study on David’s faith in light of his ongoing relationship with God: ü vs. 1 -6 Part 1: God Who Knows Me [TODAY] ü vs. 7 -12 Part 2: God Who Is with Me ü vs. 13 -18 Part 3: God Who Made Me ü vs. 19 -24 Part 4: God Who Guides Me

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 1) How well does God know David? 1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. (vs. 1 -4)

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 1) How well does God know David? Ø The Hebrew word, “search” means “to dig”—which means God is intentional and caring in knowing David’s confession is this “God, You dig me!” Ø God knew David so thoroughly. ü David’s ACTIVITIES: “you know when I sit down and when I rise up… You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways” ü David’s THOUGHTS: “you discern my thoughts from afar” ü David’s WORDS: “Even before a word is on my tongue… you know it altogether. ”

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 2) How did David know that God knows everything about him? Ø Through hearing of the Scriptures [= Torah] & the “Godstories” of Israel’s redemptive history. 7 Then the LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings. . . 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Exodus 3: 7, 9

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 2) How did David know that God knows everything about him? Ø Through his own personal experiences of God—especially through the prophets, Samuel and Nathan. 11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here? ” And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. " And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here” 12. . . And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he. " 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. 1 Samuel 16: 11, 12 b, 13

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 2) How did David know that God knows everything about him? Ø Through his own personal experiences of God—especially through the prophets, Samuel and Nathan. 7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. . . 9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 2 Samuel 12: 7, 9

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 2) How did David know that God knows everything about him? Ø Through the Holy Spirit when he habitually meditated on the stories of the faith-fathers, his own life experiences with God, and the Law of God (David kept a “journal” of his meditation, i. e. , David’s psalms). 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. Psalm 63: 5 -7

DAVID’S FAITH: KNOWING GOD WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM 3) How did David respond to this knowledge about God? 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (vs. 5 -6) Ø David’s response was twofold: [1] humble gratitude because of God’s all-encompassing knowledge and personal presence surrounding him and [2] realization of God’s GREATNESS in HIS infinite knowledge about him. Ø His twofold response leads him to praise God in awe! I praise you. . . How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (vs. 14 a, 17)

The Soul’s Paradox of Love To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. . . Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. "Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight"; and from there he rose to make the daring request, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory. ” - A. W. Tozer

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE 1. Trust God WITH EVERYTHING because God knows EVERYTHING about you. Ø Hide nothing from God—be honest and transparent to God. Ø Commit your entire life to God daily by faith. 2. See and find YOUR TRUE IDENTITY IN GOD who knows you perfectly. Ø Do not believe the lies of the Evil One about who you really are. Ø Believe God who hem you in with his all-knowing love. 3. Pursue God to KNOW HIM PERSONALLY AND INTIMATELY. Ø Turn away from relating to God in an impersonal way. Ø Meditate on God and his ways as you walk with God each day.